PETA to Dump a Big Fat Pile of Coconuts at Kroger’s Headquarters
For Immediate Release:
November 18, 2020
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
On Thursday, PETA supporters will leave a truckload of coconuts at Kroger’s headquarters to remind the company that it’s nuts to do business with Thailand’s Chaokoh brand, which a PETA Asia investigation has revealed forces monkeys—who are kept caged and chained for life—to pick coconuts used in coconut milk products. PETA has also sent deliveries of coconuts to the homes of Kroger executives.
When: Thursday, November 19, 12 noon
Where: 1014 Vine St. (at the intersection with E. Court Street), Cincinnati
PETA Asia’s investigators found cruelty to monkeys on every farm, at every monkey-training facility, and in every coconut-picking contest that used monkey labor. When not being forced to pick coconuts or perform in circus-style shows for tourists, the animals were kept tethered, chained to old tires, or confined to cages barely larger than their bodies, deprived of any semblance of a life. Many monkeys displayed repetitive behavior indicative of extreme mental anguish, including one who chewed on his own limbs. One coconut farmer confirmed that when monkeys are terrified and try to defend themselves, handlers pull their teeth out.
“Milk from coconuts picked by abused monkeys doesn’t belong on grocery shelves any more than monkeys belong on those chains,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on Kroger to reject products of forced monkey labor.”
More than 26,000 other stores—including chains Wegmans, Costco, Walgreens, Food Lion, and Stop & Shop—have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
